Gautam Adani is now as rich as Bill Gates

Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani is now the fourth richest person in the world, tying with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

The Gujarat-based tycoon's wealth surged about $48 billion this year, making him the biggest gainer year-to-date, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Adani's fortune soared to $125 billion on April 27, on par with Gates' net worth, the Bloomberg ranking shows.

This makes the Indian billionaire about $5 billion wealthier than Berkshire Hathaway founder Warren Buffett.

Out of the top ten richest people on the planet, only three have seen their net worth increase in 2022 so far. They include Adani, Buffett and Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani.

Adani's net worth has skyrocketed in the past few months as shares of Adani Group companies have been on a tear. The stock of recently listed FMCG major Adani Wilmar — a 50:50 joint venture with Singapore-based Wilmar International — has surged 213% since listing in February.

Shares of Adani Power and Adani Green Energy have jumped 196% and 114% respectively in 2022.

Adani entered the centibillionaires club — businessmen having a fortune of $100 billion or more — earlier this month. Only Ambani and Adani figure in the $100 billion club from Asia.

Adani initially made his fortune in the coal industry, first as a trader and then a builder of India's largest thermal power capacity in the private sector.

As the government decided to dump fossil fuels in favour of renewable energy, Adani quickly joined the green energy bandwagon and now his conglomerate is on its way to becoming the largest solar power producer in the world.

The group plans to spend 75% capital expenditure in green businesses, including $20 billion in renewable, green component manufacturing and enabling infrastructure, over the next decade.

Adani Green Energy, world's largest solar power developer, plans to build 45GW renewable capacity by 2030. In October, it completed the largest M&A in India's renewable space by acquiring SB Energy, an 80:20 joint venture between Japan-based SoftBank Group and Bharti Group, for ₹26,000 crore.

At Mundra, the Adani group has built India's largest commercial port over the last two decades. Adani has 12 other ports and terminals. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. (APSEZ) is India's largest commercial port operator and integrated logistics player with capacity of 498 million metric tonnes annum (MMTPA). It has a 28.6% share of all-India container movement.

In transmission and distribution, Adani Transmission is already India's largest private utility with more than 18,300 circuit kms and 33,100 MVA transformation capacity, covering 12 states with over three crore connections.

Adani has a joint venture with Indian Oil Corporation — Indian Oil-Adani Gas — which is implementing city gas distribution CGD networks in 19 cities. In October 2020, the group sold 37.4% stake in Adani Gas to French energy giant Total for ₹5,700 crore — the largest FDI in the country's city gas distribution.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the National Hydrogen Mission in August 2021, Adani decided to tap the hydrogen opportunity, too.